Laguna Beach’s school district is in a twitter. A fight has broken out in the hall. The gloves are off. Get the Principal.

Don says: I could not disagree more. School Superintendent Smith is a highly motivated individual who has the best interest of our great school district as her primary focus. Your very long diatribe is indicatory of a few ‘axe grinders” in LB that consistently stick their noses where they don’t belong. If you persist with this BS, we may lose her. Then there will be no groundswell because the axe grinders are a tiny minority. Blah, blah, blah another 123 times.

Howard says: Too bad you know little about Smith’s record in LB. Funny how citizens who question government actions are always axe grinders, our discourse is always a diatribe, and we are always a tiny minority. It was a disservice for the Board to recruit Smith whose credentials are not comparable to her predecessors, and it was a disservice for Smith to induce her former colleagues to follow her here, without ensuring that there was open and transparent disclosure and public discussion. The Board blew it and Smith blew it. Blah, blah, blah another 245 times.

1st Grader says: I need to go to the bathroom.

Don says: The fundamental problem is that there are too many people that consider themselves experts. We elect the school board to do a job. After that it’s our job to let them do theirs. Under a democratic system, majority rules and a few people don’t get their way and become disgruntled, bitter and outspoken and generally pick on our administration. These folks let this type of thing consume their identity. All the knit picking and axe grinding takes our administration’s focus off the job we elected them to do. Blah, blah, blah another 191 times.

1st Grader says: Can I get a hall pass?

Howard says: That is the most utterly incompetent and inane description of representative democracy I have ever heard or seen. If I was teaching a high school freshman class in government, I would give you a compassionate D- grade. Do you really not get it that the public dialogue you fear and want to stop is what makes America strong? It takes an active and vigilant informed and mobilized citizenry to ensure that the taxpayers get value for each dollar and the community gets the best service from our educational system possible. The idea that people who attend the schools have an axe to grind and should go away is nothing less than sanitized intolerance. Blah, blah, blah another 563 times.

1st Grader says: I really need to go #1.

Don says: Blah, blah, blah 104 times.

Howard says: Blah, blah, blah another 280 times.

Howard says: Blah, blah, blah another 540 times.

David says: (Wait. Who’s David?) Anyway he says: “Bravo, Howard!”

And the judges agree and score the decision: Howard 1,823 blahs to Don’s 561 blahs.

1st Grader says: Forget it. My Mom’s going to home school me. I’ll just get a GED.

Mark Crantz is a transplant to Laguna from Chicago. His recently deceased Border Collie, Pokey, is his muse and ghostwriter.

5 Comments

Sorry you have the blahs, hope your condition improves and you get back to clever columns on things you know at least as much about as your dog.

Just a few personal thoughts. A lot of parents and school supporters sacrificed a lot of time and doing the hard work of civic action to deal with some real problems in School District management. While keeping a sense of humor, it is no laughing matter, guys.

So get a few basic facts straight. No one is out to “get the Principal.” There is no problem with Principal(s). So whether in jest or not don’t confuse the public by ignoring the facts that matter.

The problems at LBUSD involve a Superintendent who has shown material bad judgment over and over. No one is out to get her, she has been out to get those who get in her way, and she lacks the credentials, experience, and connection to students and families that our Principals have, which is why they succeed and she has not.

It is not a funny situation for students and families, taxpayers or school supporters, and it is a story which will not have a happy ending even if the School Board gets its act together and solves the problems in a way that is fair to all concerned.

DonJuly 24, 2013 at 6:57 am

Mark: don’t want to turn this into another blah, blah, blah post but I see that at least one of the guilty parties reads your column. I have watched this for 35 years and this I know: they have ENDLESS hours to waste picking on any one in public office with a weak spot (it becomes their mission in life), they always feel DRIVEN by some sort of whack responsibility to protect us all, they almost never represent anything close to a majority, and nothing I have said has ever changed those facts even in the least.

DonJuly 24, 2013 at 6:57 am

Mark: don’t want to turn this into another blah, blah, blah post but I see that at least one of the guilty parties reads your column. I have watched this for 35 years and this I know: they have ENDLESS hours to waste picking on any one in public office with a weak spot (it becomes their mission in life), they always feel DRIVEN by some sort of whack responsibility to protect us all, they almost never represent anything close to a majority, and nothing I have said has ever changed those facts even in the least.

DavidJuly 25, 2013 at 7:38 pm

The most disappointing element or ‘blah” about this discussion is the ad hominem attack on Howard Hills. Focus on te ideas, please and keep the discussion both civil and intelligent. Attacking a person, says nothing about the quality of their criticism.